Ash
by Andromiel
Summary: Blowing up the lab has unexpected results for Tatsumi and Watari.(Short fluffy 'lil TxW. COMPLETE.)
1. Accident

Tittle: Ash  
Author: Andro  
Rating: PG  
Couples: TatsumixWatari  
Disclaimer: If I owned them, Hijiri would have come a shinigami, Muraki would have appeared  
more and Tatsumi and Watari would have been a couple.  
Notes: Hiii, Andro here. ^^ This is just a short one-shot kind of thing. =D 'Cause my muse was  
positively demanding that I write something about Tatsumi and Watari, and I did, and I decided  
that since there's so few things about this couple( ;; ) that I'd post it here. *bows* Eh, it's not great, but  
it's something at least, ne? ^^  
  
*~*~*~  
  
The rain splashed and slid over the roof of the imposing building inside the world of the dead, sounding  
muted to the few people left inside. It was after working hours, so the only ones left inside were the  
workaholics, and those that were looking for something to amuse themselves with.  
Inside the structure's main lab, a pretty young man with thick golden hair worked hard, trying to perfect  
a potion he'd been working on for a while  
  
*~*~*~  
  
A soft, pleased sigh was released, and then golden eyes peered over slipping glasses at the steaming  
tube. Finally. He'd done it. A sex changing position. A grin turned his lips and Watari straightened up,  
taking the utmost care with the vial, afraid to spill the liquid inside. It had taken him years, but finally,  
after all the explosions and dissapointments -and quite a few interesting, but unexpected results-he had  
done it!  
  
Now, to find a test subject.  
  
"You ate my cookie!"  
  
Watari had enough time to blink in a confused way before a body slammed against his back, sending  
the glass container in his hand flying into another chemical batch.  
  
BOOOM!  
  
*~*~*~  
  
He wanted to be anywhere but in that office.  
  
You would have wished you were somewhere else too, if Tatsumi had been glaring at you with those  
icy blue as well.  
  
"How could you be so irresponsible?"  
  
The blonde scientist cringed, then looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck.  
  
"It wasn't me, it was Tsuzuki and Terazuma's fault! Really." He defended himself, backing away when  
Tatsumi's glasses gleamed.  
  
//Oh, oh, that definitely can't be good.\\  
  
"Explain."  
  
"Err, well, I had just finished my sex changing potion-" Watari paused to sigh. All the notes, gone... "And  
I was going to find someone to test it on, when I felt someone crash into me and I spilled the potion...  
-well, you saw the explosion." He made a face. He hadn't even had the chance to take a shower and  
change clothes before being dragged in for his punishment, and had ash marks all over his face.   
Usually, he could care less about his appearance, but when one's clothes were cringed, ripped and full   
of ash, even slobs tended to want a bath. And another outfit. And his nose was really starting to itch  
too.  
  
OO3 fluttered on his shoulder, shaking herself of the almost snow like substance, throwing it in a little  
white cloud, making Watari's eyes water and he sneezed violently, almost making the small pet fall off.   
Annoyed, she gave a series of sharp hoots to reprimand him and the scientist offered her a tiny smile,   
rubbing his nose.  
  
"Uhm, Tatsumi? If you're going to scream at me, can it wait until iafter/i I've taken a shower please?  
I feel...icky."  
  
"I don't scream." The secretary corrected automatically, then rolled his eyes despite himself.  
"-Icky-?"  
  
The younger shinigami grinned cheerfully, yellow rose colored eyes gleaming behind the thin glasses  
he always wore.  
  
"Yea, icky!" He looked way too happy for someone who was saying they felt uncomfortable. A smear of  
gray ash made a striking contrast against the pale skin of his cheek and the shadow user sighed in  
a resigned way, bringing out a handkerchief from his pocket. Couldn't any of them take care of  
themselves? Tsuzuki with his overly eager eating habits, and Watari with the explosions. Though it  
seemed this time that it wasn't the blonde scientist's fault, so he couldn't really blame him. Tsuzuki  
though on the other hand, was going to ipay/i dearly for destroying the lab.  
  
Efficiently he raised Watari's face up with twin fingers pulling the thin chin towards him and with the  
other nimbly brushed away the cinder. It was only when Watari drew in a sharp breath that he realized  
that he'd gotten a little to close and was only inches away from the questioning-expecting?-amber  
eyes.  
  
From there he could smell the lavender sweet scent of the scientist's long mane of aureate hair, and  
Tatsumi liked the smell, inprinting it to memory. Warm air stirred against his palm and his attention was  
drawn like a magnet to the partly opened mouth. The blonde didn't seem to notice anything, he had a  
vaguely dazed expression on his features as he watched Tatsumi's face eagerly.  
  
Lifting his fingers, the taller man brushed them across the parted rosy lips, curious to see if they were   
as soft as they looked. They didn't disappoint him.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki pressed his ear against the door, trying to hear. Silence. His violet eyes widened. This was all  
that damn guy's fault! If he hadn't been so stingy with the cookies that Wakaba made, this wouldn't  
have happened! Tatsumi was probably choking poor Watari in there!  
  
Gathering his courage, Tsuzuki swung open the door.  
  
"I'm sorry Tatsumi! I was the one that made the lab go-eh?" The oldest shinigami stopped and blinked  
at his two co-workers, wondering why they looked guilty and remarkably red in the face.  
  
"What's wrong?" He questioned, confused, tilting his head adorably to the side.  
  
Blushing, Watari rubbed his arms across his lips which looked swollen and shook his head.  
"N-Nothing's wrong, I was just going to leave." He stuttered, then vanished behind Tsuzuki into the  
door way.  
  
Looking annoyed, Tatsumi returned to his seat behind his desk, straightening his tie which for once was  
out of place.  
  
"Ah, Tsuzuki, I'm glad you came to see me, we have to discuss your actions with the lab." He  
announced coolly.  
  
The violet eyed man nodded silently, too interested in something else.  
  
"Ne, Tatsumi? Why do you have Watari's hair ribbon in your hand?"  
  
*~*~*~  
Owari  
*~*~*~  
  
Eh, who knows? I might turn it into a story. XD; If I get enough reviews.  
  
Andro 


	2. Pushed

Tittle: Ash  
Author: Andro  
Rating: PG  
Couple: TatsumixWatari  
Disclaimer: I'm a yaoi fangirl. THINK about it. If I owned YnM, there would have been a hella lot more action than there was. ^.~ And I don't mean the fighting kind.  
For those that requested it....*amused* Not quite sure why you people want more, but here it is. =D  
Thanks to Yukitsu, Kelly, Lux,Polyhymnia, Enjeru, Anabella, Elial, nekoMoon-Chan, Pitti and Yami No Tenshi for reviewing. ^^v This is for you guys, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have kept writing. But in any case, enjoy!  
  
  
*~*~*~  
  
A day passed. Then two. Three. They slowly melted into weeks, and still, Watari and Tatsumi avoided looking at each other, almost if it would cause physical pain if they did. Even being in the same room with each other was apparently intolerable, since one of them would flee with an excuse or other soon after.  
Suspiciously, Tsuzuki watched the almost comical game with thoughtful violet eyes. He seemed to be the only one who noticed it. Hisoka almost never took his attention off one of his books to notice the actions of his co-workers, the chief rarely came out of his office, and the Goushoshin only complained about the fact that Watari kept borrowing books and kept forgetting to return them. He also never seemed to notice that his ribbon was gone, since he now wore his hair loose. Maybe he didn't know where his ribbon had gone, but Tsuzuki did know, and watched the two carefully when he wasn't being his usual hyper cheerful self.  
  
It really was funny on some level, but it didn't feel like it to him. They were just trying to hard to not stare at each other, it was heartbreaking.  
  
Slowly, Tsuzuki plotted with a small secretive smile of his own. He'd need the help of the charm caster from Sector 5, but that could easily be arranged. The plan was a walking cliché, but that didn't mean it wouldn't work.  
  
Now, to find a suitable spot.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Darkness rose around him, but he didn't mind. The dark was his ally, and shadows would never   
hurt him.  
  
Besides, it was -just- a closet.  
  
Tatsumi sighed and leaned back against the wall, taking off his glasses. It wasn't like they were any help to him at that moment. He pursed his lips together and began wiping them with slow, deliberate movements with a handkerchief, just out of something to do.  
  
Someone was going to pay dearly for this.  
  
The secretary almost growled.  
  
Finishing the balancing of that month's pay cut had unfortunately taken longer than he would have liked, sinking deep into the hours until he knew that there was no one else in the building but him. He was the only one obsessed enough with ending his task to stay that late.   
  
Lately though, it wasn't as much as just finishing his work, but avoiding going home. It had been a while since he started feeling hollow in his own home, but the feeling never seemed to just vanish. Instead it grew steadily worse every time that he arrived from work. Something important was missing, and he felt uncomfortable trying to think of what it was.  
  
He wasn't afraid. Of course not. What in the world did he of all people have to fear?  
  
//Stop thinking that way, it's useless.\\ Tatsumi chided himself, slipping back on his glasses.  
  
He had thought he had been alone when he had finally finished that day's workload. It was dark outside, and there was no point hanging around any longer. So picking up his papers, Tatsumi had left his office and began walking down the hall.  
  
That's when it had happened.  
  
Something small and glowing red-hot had been thrown at his chest, and then he'd felt hands pulling him quickly into a room. The door had made a loud slamming noise when it was shut, and Tatsumi had been left speechless. He'd called upon his shadows, but they hadn't risen to the summon. Then he had glanced down at the still glowing thing on his chest.  
  
A charm.  
  
Not only that, but a binding charm.  
  
Which meant that for the next five hours, he was simply defenseless.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
By Tatsumi's count, he'd been in the closet for an hour. He'd tried knocking down the door, but only discovered quite unpleasantly that the door itself had a charm on it to ward off attempts to open it, and the consequences of trying only met with severe pain.  
  
He was stuck. His personal charm still glowed, however weaker than from it had first been cast. It was only natural. As time passed, the glow of the charm would lessen, but until then, Tatsumi could only wait. Whoever had done this had apparently just wanted him out of the way, because despite the door being spelled, nothing had been done to him.  
  
Still, someone was going to -pay-.  
  
He just wasn't sure who.  
  
Not many people could cast charms that powerful, so searching for casters in the nearby area shouldn't be too hard, he reasoned, but what if the person had an accomplice? Or if it was more than one spell caster working against him?(1)  
  
Being lost in thought made him careless, and the next thing Tatsumi knew, something heavy and definitely -alive- had been thrown into him in the millisecond that the door had been opened. He caught a flash of gold hair, then they were shunned into darkness again as the door closed again.  
  
Lavender.  
  
He knew that scent.  
  
"T-Tatsumi?"  
  
He knew that voice.  
  
Someone was going to -pay-.  
  
"Hello to you as well Watari."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
To be continued..?  
  
*~*~*~  
  
1.Paranoid, aren't we Tatsumi?  
  
  
^^ *shrugs* Hope you enjoyed minna.  
  
Andro 


	3. No Regrets

Tittle: Ash  
  
Author: Andro  
  
Rating: PGsh?  
  
Couples: TatsumixWatari  
  
Disclaimer: ^^v Just borrowing them for a while. Not to be taken seriously. =) Just a fluffy little story, after all.  
  
A/N: Dedicated to us poor TxW-less fans. ;;  
  
*~*~*~  
  
An uncomfortable, thick silence descended upon the duo.  
  
Finally, Watari gave a tiny sigh, sound more like a puff of air in the somber air.  
  
"You don't have to sound so pleased Tatsumi." He declared with a hint of dryness, stepping away to put as much space between the other man and himself-which wasn't much, considering the closet was perhaps four feet in length, and three in width. Still, it was better than just staying pressed into Tatsumi's chest.  
  
Well. Not necessarily -better-, but at least the action had more dignity.  
  
His actions brought him up against the door and he leaned on it, grateful to have the option of not standing. At first, nothing happened, but then a crackling pain raced up his spine and Watari had enough time to give a pained yelp before warm hands grasped his shoulders and pulled him forward. Immediately, the torture stopped, and the blonde scientist drew in a haggard breath, clutching at Tatsumi's shirt, not caring anymore.  
  
"What was -that-?!"  
  
Out of the darkness and over his head, came the answer, darkly stated.  
  
"It's spelled. I'm blocked too, so I can't use my powers." Giving the door a disgruntled look, the secretary dispelled the tense posture he'd acquired when hearing the pitiful cry coming from Watari. He allowed his hands to loosen their tight grasp on the scientist's shoulders since they refused to let go completely, still clasped protectively onto the aureate haired shinigami.  
  
"Just don't move, and we'll be able to get out of here in a while."  
  
Warily, Watari tilted his head up to look at Tatsumi head on, even though in the darkness he could see nothing. His back was sore, but soon enough his healing capabilities would kick in, he was sure. He just had to get his breath back, though he wasn't sure if it was from the shock or the close proximity of Tatsumi that caused it.  
  
"A little while?" He echoed, questioning. A slight pause followed until he got his answer.  
  
"Somewhere around in four hours."  
  
An undignified squawk escaped from the scientist. He couldn't help it. Four hours? Alone? In a tiny space with the one person he'd been trying to secretly avoid for weeks?  
  
"I'm not any more pleased than you are about this situation." Tatsumi snapped defensively. Did Watari really hate him that much? It had just been a kiss, he didn't need to over react like that over it. Conveniently, he chose to ignore the fact that his actions had been no better, and the slight pang of hurt that Watari's outburst of dread had caused.  
  
Biting his lower lip, Watari pulled away, allowing his arms to drop aimlessly to his sides.  
  
"Sorry, I was just surprised." Came the quiet mumble.  
  
Silence reigned supreme once more.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki fretted.  
  
Almost an hour of no sound had come since they'd pushed the scientist into the closet, and he was starting to worry. He turned to the girl next to him and began bombarding her with questions in a slightly whining tone.  
  
"What if they're dead? They could have killed each other and we wouldn't know!"  
  
Sayeka Onori barely glanced at him from the spread of cards surrounding her. She was thin with long dark hair and blue eyes, and she belonged to one of the other sectors in the world of death.(1)  
  
"They can't be dead because they're already dead Mr.Tsuzuki." Sayeka answered calmly, gathering the glowing cards into her hands. She wasn't particularly interested in why the violet eyed shinigami had wanted her to set up the blocking wards, but now that she had, she wished she'd asked for more money for the job. Standing in a deserted hallway for hours with no company to keep but an overly nervous god of death wasn't the way to spend an evening, and she wished she were home. Maybe watching some TV. She'd heard that tonight was the night of a 1001 God of Death Fakers moviethon.  
  
"Oh...Right." Briefly reassured, Tsuzuki nodded quickly, then tried to approach the door to press his ear against the wood, only to receive a smack from Sayeka.  
  
"Don't do that!"  
  
Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head.  
  
"Sorry, I forgot that it was charmed. It's not fair that only you can touch the door you know." He added, backing away from the door and slipping down to the floor with his legs crossed indian style. True to her nature, the younger shinigami just rolled her eyes and returned to her game.  
  
Tsuzuki sighed.  
  
What if it didn't work..?  
  
Well, he'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble if it didn't.  
  
Shrugging in a resigned manner, Tsuzuki petted the tiny owl on his shoulder who occasionally gave a worried glance at the charmed closet before ruffling her feathers and going back to sleep.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
The lack of sound was killing him. Sure a lot of the time he spent alone in his lab, but at least then he had 003 that he could talk to. And if the little owl wasn't there, well, then he could talk to himself. In any case, where was that owl of his in the first place? He sighed. Well, as long as she wasn't hurt then it wasn't a problem.  
  
Watari wondered what hat happened. This wasn't exactly what someone who wanted to harm them would do, this seemed more like a set up especially for the two. His golden eyes widened. Had someone noticed the looks he'd snuck at Tatsumi? Or even worse, the times that he'd slink into a daydream and sigh his name?  
  
//Oh dear...whoever is doing this, probably thinks they're doing me-or Tatsumi-a favor. They're so wrong.\\ He thought with sorrow. In one way, a part of him didn't exactly -mind- being locked in the space with the secretary, but Tatsumi obviously wasn't happy about it at all. Obviously he regretted their shared kiss.  
  
"Why are you sighing?"  
  
"I-was just thinking about the lab accident." Watari lied, not knowing what else to say. 'Nothing' was too suspicious, and it was obvious he was sighting about -something-.  
  
Tatsumi paused.  
  
"Do you regret it?"  
  
Unsure, Watari cursed the lack of light silently, wishing he could see the other's face. //Why not? You kissed him back, it's not like he doesn't know you have feelings for him, so just say it and get it over with.\\  
  
"No." He took a deep breath. "I don't regret it at all. Any of it."  
  
An uncomfortable pause inssued, and Watari waited with held breath, senses sharper than usual, trying to catch any sound.  
  
He almost flinched back when he felt fingers run across his cheek but stood still, surprise and anticipation making a heavy combination in his mind. He forced himself to release his breath, having forgotten about it and to gulp in new air. Tatsumi still hadn't said anything, but his fingers were brushing their way over the bridge of his nose down one cheek again to pause at the scientist's lips. They were so very light that Watari wasn't completely sure that they were there at all. And then they were gone.  
  
Watari felt disappointment shoot through him straight to the core. //Now what?\\  
  
"I don't regret it either." Cool lips brushed questioningly against his mouth, and Watari responded eagerly, pressing both back against the wall with a muffled thumping noise.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki's head snapped up from the dozing state that he'd sunk to and stared at the door. He was sure he'd just heard something hit a hard surface. His hand twitched at his side, wanting to reach out and open the door.  
  
"Don't." Sayeka ordered coolly, having also raised her head. She listened to the very light sounds coming from inside and snorted to herself.  
  
"Nothing's wrong. They're just enjoying themselves." Peacefully, the dark haired girl packed her things and glanced at the other shinigami, standing up.  
  
"I'd give them some time alone, the spells will wear off in a few hours, but I suspect they'll stay there longer than that. Good night Mr.Tsuzuki." She bid him good bye, a tiny bit amused by the sudden blush that flared across his face from her words and left.  
  
Tsuzuki nodded, then glanced at the door again, and grinned. Maybe this wasn't exactly what he had expected to happen, but he was happy with the results never the less. Patting 003 on the head lightly, he gave her a quizzical look.  
  
"Do you want to come home with me, or would you rather wait until Tatsumi and Watari decide to come out?"  
  
The female gave a brief, high pitched sound then settled against against the crook of his neck. //Finally,\\ she thought to herself, //those two will stop skittering around each other.\\ Content knowing that her master was happy too, she went to sleep.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
1.I don't know if there is any that can do that in the YnM universe, so I just popped in Sayeka. =)  
  
A/N: ^^; Well, that really wasn't how I was expecting it to finish...but for my first YnM fic, it's not too horrible I suppose. Oh, and I just have to quote a friend of mine on this. "I love this fic. It shows that Tatsumi has hormones just like the rest of us." Hehe. ^.~  
  
I received one request that I incorporate what I thought about the Mother into this fic, but I'm sorry, I honestly don't even know what's up with -that-. o_O I'm highly curious myself. Oh, well. We'll find out what's up with Watari's past one day or other. ^^ Hope you enjoy this lil' fic and happy late new year.  
  
Andro 


End file.
